Cranberry And Vanilla Bean Sorbet Food

MULLED WINE AND CRANBERRY SORBET

Steps:

• Combine the cranberries, red wine, 2 1/2 cups water, allspice, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla bean in a saucepot. Cook over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes. The cranberries will have become very soft and the liquid will be reduced by about 20-percent.
• Strain the mixture through a sieve fine enough to catch the spices, pushing lightly to extract some of the cranberry pulp. Chill the sorbet mixture thoroughly and spin in an ice cream maker until frozen.

CRANBERRY SAUCE WITH BOURBON AND VANILLA BEAN AND ORANGE

Steps:

• Combine the sugar and bourbon, stirring well, in a 1-quart saucepan. Add the cinnamon, ginger, orange zest and juice. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the liquid begins to reduce a little bit, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the cranberries and vanilla bean and continue to simmer until the cranberries are soft and breaking apart and the sauce begins to thicken, 12 to 15 minutes.
• If desired, mash your cranberries with a sturdy whisk or potato masher, just to break up the cranberries, and simmer to thicken a little bit more, about 5 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and discard the cinnamon sticks, ginger pieces and vanilla bean. Allow the sauce to cool. Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 10 days -- the flavors only get better as they chill out in the fridge.

THE BEST VANILLA-LEMON SORBET

Steps:

• Open vanilla bean (use a sharp knife to halve it).
• Place first 1/2 cup water in pot along with the vanilla bean.
• Bring to the boil, then add sugar.
• Stir sugar until dissolved.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove vanilla bean and using knife scrape seeds into sugar syrup.
• Remove sugar syrup from heat and add cold water.
• Pour into large bowl and place in freezer for 5 minutes.
• Add juice to bowl and put back in freezer.
• Every 30 minutes, remove bowl and, using a fork, stir - break up any ice that is forming. You are trying to get a "slushy" consistency.
• Once thickened, take 3 egg whites, a beat in a bowl until peaks can be made.
• Fold beaten egg whites through slushy mixture.
• Return to freezer.
• Every 20 minutes, run fork through mixture to break up ice.
• When the mixture is completely frozen it is ready to eat. In my freezer, this is around 3 hours.
• I serve this in a chilled bowl either by itself, or with a small amount of reduced raspberries (1/2 cup raspberries, 1 tbs sugar, 1/4 cup water boiled for 10 minutes, then refrigerated) drizzled over the top.
• You can also add a small amount of dry white white if you like. I've made this with some sparkling white and it was very nice. Other variations include orange sorbet with cointreau, kiwi fruit and Midori melon liquour. The combinations are endless!
• Update: I made this again and instead of folding by hand, I used a hand held electric mixer on the 'fold' setting, and used this to break the ice up, and to fold the egg whites through. Doing this a few times, I found that the appearance looked a lot closer to commercial sorbet, and it made it a lot smoother to eat. Definately recommend trying the electric mixer for better results!